Inspiration & Expression of a Creative Mom in Progress

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Category Archives: Family & Parenting

2012 has had its share of turmoil, changes, and hard dates and deadlines on the calendar. My attempts to control the agenda and tame the to-do list have often been met by maniacal laughter (was that out loud?).

So what have I learned from this? Is it time to throw out the planner and just live free? Or do I need another planner maybe? Perhaps a wall calendar this time?

No, nothing quite so drastic. I’m taking a step back to look at this from two standpoints: the Practical and the Divine. Continue reading »

This past week I received a message from (in)courage about some new Facebook groups they were starting. Even though I haven’t participated in a group like this before, I felt compelled to join the “Marriage & Mommyhood” group, which subsequently met its max size and closed. Somehow the fact that I read that message at just the right moment to join before it closed seemed to confirm for me that perhaps there was a Message of another kind behind it – a Message with a capital M meant just for me.

Even though I am writing this “Week 1″ post a day late, I still wanted to express my thoughts – because the message of doing vs. being has resonated with me so strongly over the course of the last week. And also because I am interpreting this Message as another reminder that God has given me my creative gifts to be shared, not to be worried over and pushed aside in the flurry of daily minutia we all experience.

Be still and know that I am God.

Pause for just a moment in those words. How comforting and reassuring they are. How often do we really feel permission to do that? To BE. STILL. And just KNOW. Continue reading »

Today I returned to church after a long absence. A bumpy path in life combined with conflicting schedules has made it difficult to attend. We made a brief appearance out of hiding in December for the Christmas pageant, primarily because my 8-year-old daughter begged to be able to take part. Knowing how important it was to her I couldn’t turn her down – what on earth would I have said? “No, honey, you can’t participate in celebrating the birth of Jesus because Mom’s too busy and needs to sleep in?”

But then after the pageant passed, I was off the wagon again. Soccer games most Sunday mornings and pure exhaustion and desire to not leave the house the rest. Even Christmas Eve and Easter went without formal observation in church.

I know in our day and age it’s not uncommon to NOT attend church. In fact I’m sure there are plenty of lovely, high-achieving families who might not even belong to a church, temple, mosque, or other organized place of worship. Continue reading »